The Championship has had a weekend off with the FA Cup taking centre stage. Middlesbrough won through to round four after pumping five past Peterborough on an eventful Riverside afternoon. So who had a good weekend and who didn’t? We take a closer look and pick three winners and three losers.

Three up

Birthday boy Grant’s wise words

It hasn’t been a stellar season for Grant Leadbitter but the skipper gave a timely reminder in Saturday’s FA Cup tie that he still has a lot to offer Boro.

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The 5-0 win over Peterborough was his 500th career appearance and, two days later, he celebrated his 33rd birthday.

Linked with a January move back to Ipswich, the club he left to join Boro on a free transfer in 2012, Leadbitter has made it crystal clear that he wants to stay and fight for a place in Tony Pulis’s starting line-up.

Asked about his peripheral role, he said: “It’s the first time (it’s happened) in my career, I accept it, I get on with it. You can ask anyone around the football club that I just get on with it, I don’t say much, I come in, get on with my work and try and do my best everyday in training and away from training go and work harder, that’s always been my motto and I’ll never change.

“I’m here until 2020 so I’ll continue to keep doing what I’m doing every single day and let me tell you that won’t change.”

His comments on Lewis Wing were also worth their weight in gold.

Both players hail from County Durham and Leadbitter likes the fact that Wing worked his way up from non-league football.

“I love the boy Wing, I really do,” he said. “He’s a proper kid. You can tell he’s come through non-league which is proper and he gets in with things.

Former Boro boss Lennie Lawrence was back in the big time on Sunday when Newport County knocked Premier League Leicester City out of the FA Cup.

Lawrence was a relatively successful Middlesbrough manager, achieving promotion to the top flight in 1992.

It was the first ever Premier League season but he was unable to keep the club in the division and relegation followed a year later.

Lennie Lawrence is chaired by Boro fans after a pitch invasion at Wolves (Image: Teesside Archive)

Lawrence left the club in 1994 but not before playing a pivotal role in the appointment of his replacement, England and Manchester United captain Bryan Robson.

Now the 71-year-old is working in South Wales as manager Michael Flynn’s assistant.

He joined Newport as first team management consultant in March 2017 and, speaking at the time, he said: “I have undertaken this type of role on several occasions and will be there for Michael to offer advice and guidance when needed.”

Flynn added: “I’m always learning and if I can’t learn from someone who’s managed over a 1,000 times in the Football League then I won’t be able to learn from anyone.

“Not only will Lennie be important for my development, he’ll also be helpful to the board as he brings with him a wealth of football knowledge.”

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Newport took the lead at Rodney Parade through Jamille Matt’s excellent header but Leicester levelled through Rachid Ghezzai in the 82nd minute. A replay at the King Power looked likely but Padraig Amond put the tie to bed when he converted a penalty three minutes later.

After the match Flynn said: “I’m so proud of the players. They were excellent from start to finish. Let’s not say that we just hung on - we created quite a few chances.”

Three down

Leeds lose - again!

When does a blip become a slump?

Championship leaders Leeds United suffered their third successive defeat at the weekend, losing 2-1 in a third round FA Cup tie at QPR.

Aramide Oteh put Rangers 1-0 at Loftus Road before Aapo Halme equalised. Jake Bidwell scored the winner to send United tumbling out of the tournament and piled the pressure on head coach Marcelo Bielsa, whose side take on Derby at Elland Road on Friday.

Leeds United's Adam Forshaw and Luke Ayling

Former Boro midfielder Adam Fordshaw doesn’t believe the cup defeat is a blessing in disguise that allows Leeds to focus on their promotion challenge.

“I can understand why people would feel like that but as competitors and players you want to win games,” said Forshaw.

“You want to create that confidence and belief and we want to put this right as soon as possible. There’s no hiding from the fact that we’ve lost the last couple.

“It’s an important competition and it’s a chance for people who might not be playing as much to stake a claim and try to get in the manager’s thoughts a bit more. You’re always disappointed to lose a game.”

Dion’s got a big man problem

BBC Match of the Day pundit Dion Dublin created a bit of a stir when he described Bradley Dack as one of Blackburn’s two “big lads up front” on Saturday night.

Now big man can certainly apply to Rovers’ striker Danny Graham, and Dublin himself was a fine big man back in the day, but Dack?

By any stretch, however Dack, at 5ft 9ins, doesn’t fit the profile of a “big man”.

He said: “The two big lads up front were outstanding for Blackburn. I thought Dack was a massive handful.”

After listening to that praise Dack must have felt 10ft tall!

Pompey clip Canaries’ wings

Promotion-chasing Norwich were dumped out of the FA Cup by League One leaders Portsmouth.

Manager Daniel Farke made eight changes ahead of the visit from Pompey, who won with a stoppage time goal.

The Canaries, who travel to West Brom on Saturday, are second in the Championship but have now won just one out of their last four fixtures and have managed just one clean sheet since November.

Farke said: “We are disappointed because the cup had high importance for us and we were greedy to go into the next round.

“The lads invested everything and tried their best, and for several lads it was the first game for a long time. So, we had several lads on the pitch who were not involved in the starting line-up for the last four or five months and they were there with big desire and commitment because we faced a really good opponent who are dominating League One at the moment.

Daniel Farke (Image: Getty Images Europe)

“I got the feeling we were closer to winning the game than Portsmouth were, but in the last situation sadly we conceded the counter and we have to accept the loss.

“We had to risk today to give some game time to prepare the lads for the next months and also give some players a rest.

“We are disappointed but there are more important games for us in the next four months and now we will just concentrate on West Brom.”